


Skating Day

by Tastethatcake



Series: Free! Holiday Collection [1]
Category: Free!
Genre: Christmas, Fluff, M/M, Short, happy things, holiday theme, skating things, winter stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-07
Updated: 2013-12-07
Packaged: 2018-01-03 22:52:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1074006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tastethatcake/pseuds/Tastethatcake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is the second part of my fluffy Free! Holiday collection. This time, the boys go on a skating trip. Make sure to read the first part, too! :)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Skating Day

**Author's Note:**

> Warning, I don't use honorifics. Also, due to confusion in posting, this fanfic is shown as the first in the series. It is actually the second part, and the first was posted several days ago. Thanks for reading!

“Soo, I but you’re a pretty great skater, Haru?” Kou asked, practically skipping beside him  
“Why do you think that?” He replied.  
“Well, you love water, don’t you? I thought you would have skated all the time in the winter!”  
Haru just shrugged and Makoto said with a bright smile, “I’ve never actually seen Haru skate before! I always went with my family. The twins love to skate.”  
“Yay! I love skating too!” Nagisa interjected as he caught up with the group, Rei following close behind.

The group was walking to the local Iwatobi outdoor skating rink, venturing out into one of the coldest days of the year to get a little exercise. Haru didn’t even want to go, but Kou insisted that it would be a good way to stay in shape during the winter season, and Makoto had said that it would be fun. He felt a little surly to be outside in this weather though, and he grumpily watched his breath puff out between his lips. Everyone in the group was bundled up with several layers of clothing, especially Kou, whose voice was muffled through the thick red scarf she wore over her face.

“Look! There’s the rink!” Nagisa pointed ahead before grabbing Rei’s wrist and dragging him towards their destination. “Nagisa, let go!” Rei had called after him.

Makoto and Kou followed after eagerly with Haru trailing behind them. Kou let out an awed gasp as she saw the rink. It was huge, an empty sheet of ice with no one on it, surrounded by benches and trees stripped of their leaves by the cold.  
“Where is everyone?” Rei asked.  
“It’s probably too cold for most people today. Not for you guys though, get your skates on and get on the rink. I want to see ten laps, let’s go!” Kou yelled, throwing her mittened hands up in the air.  
“Where are your skates, Gou?” Makoto asked her, pulling his hat over his ears. “Aren’t you going to skate with us?”  
“Of course not! I’m your trainer, I have to watch! Besides, there are still magazines to read in the winter time.” She said, sitting down on a bench.  
Nagisa and Rei were already tying up their skates by the time Haru and Makoto were taking their boots off.  
“So Rei, have you gone skating before?” Nagisa asked.  
“Of course! Figure skating is a beautiful sport.” He paused to push his glasses up his nose.  
“So, you won’t need my help? It’s just that... I’m a pretty good skater myself.” Nagisa replied, grinning mischievously.  
“Are you challenging me?”  
“Yeah! I bet I can beat you in a race across the entire rink.”  
“No way! I accept your challenge. Let’s see who the fastest skater is.”

Haru, Makoto and Kou watched as both boys hobbled on their skates to the ice and cautiously lowered themselves. Nagisa got on the rink first and pushed himself off on railing. His legs were wobbly as he glided across the ice. Rei got on the ice seconds later and pushed off quickly, immediately catching up to Nagisa. As he passed Nagisa he began to pump his legs quickly. His form was beautiful, his body fell naturally into a rhythm as he made his way towards the other side of the rink. Seeing this, Nagisa began to move his legs, but he was too hasty and tripped over his own feet.  
“Wah! Rei, help me!” 

Rei skid to a stop after hearing Nagisa’s cry and quickly turned around and skated back to him.  
“Nagisa, are you alright?” He asked with concern as he reached down to pull Nagisa up.  
“Yeah, I guess it’s been a little bit too long since I last went skating,” Nagisa laughed.  
With Nagisa up, Rei offered to help Nagisa skate, but Nagisa insisted he just needed a little warm up. “Well, I guess you won, Rei. You’re definitely the better skater.”

Meanwhile, Makoto was tying up Haru’s skates after Haru had had trouble with them. Finally Makoto tied the last knot and smiled up at Haru. “What do you say we get on the ice now?”

Haru stood up beside and shrugged before making his way to the ice next to Makoto. Makoto slid onto the rink and held onto the railing as Haru tried to get onto the ice next. To Makoto’s surprise, Haru struggled trying to get his feet onto the ice. He clung to the railing and lowered one foot slowly, and then pushed off the railing and put the other one down. He then let go of the railing and balanced carefully on his skates as he drifted further to the center of the ice.  
“Um, Haru... you haven’t gone skating before, have you?” He asked as Haru swiveled his arms around and struggled to keep upright. Haru didn’t respond and instead focused on mirroring Makoto’s leg movements. His skate caught on the ice and he almost fell, but was hurriedly grabbed by Makoto, who wrapped his arms around Haru’s waist. Haru looked up at him with surprised eyes.  
“I... don’t know how to skate.” Haru said quickly, looking away from Makoto.  
“Hey, that’s alright, Haru! I can teach you.” He released Haru before saying, “here. Grab my hand.”

Holding hands, Makoto pulled Haru across the ice, gently instructing him on where to put his feet and how to glide across the ice.

On the other side of the rink, Nagisa skated as quickly as he could as Rei sailed across the ice in circles around him. Rei didn’t even need to watch where he was going- he twirled and jumped across the ice like they were on land, dancing around Nagisa like a fairy.  
“Rei!” Nagisa whined. “Stop showing off! Nobody else here knows how to skate like that.”  
“That’s alright, Nagisa! You just have to learn. It takes hard work and a lot of energy to learn to skate as beautifully as I do.”  
“Oh, shut up.”

The hours passed like this, Haru learning to skate with Makoto, and Nagisa and Rei messing around the rink until Kou finally burnt through all of her magazines. “Come back, boys! I have hot chocolate!”

And so the Iwatobi High School Swim Team sat and drank hot chocolate and chatted and laughed as the rest of the day passed. The sun set on their backs as they walked home together, the golden light warming their hearts on the coldest day of the year. Even Haru smiled as he held Makoto’s hand, and Rei laughed as Nagisa told another corny joke. Their smiles still rested on their lips as they entered their own homes- the memories the swim team had given them would last a life time.


End file.
